This homemade lemon cream cheese frosting recipe is the perfect balance of both sweet and tangy and perfect for cupcakes, cake, or a bread loaf! It’s smooth, creamy, and ready in just 15 minutes!
This lemon cream cheese frosting has quickly become a family favorite on all our homemade sweet treats! Without the heaviness of butter, this frosting is easy to spread, full of flavor, and the perfect topping for any bread loaf, cake, or cupcakes!
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting: What To Know & Recipe Highlights
- Ingredient Tip: For best results, use full fat cream cheese. The higher fat content gives the frosting more flavor and will help keep it creamy. And please...make sure the cream cheese is a room temperature. It makes it a whole lot easer to mix!
- Not Too Sweet: The ratio of cream cheese to powdered sugar is perfectly balanced giving you just the right amount of sweetness.
- No Butter Needed: Even though I don't add butter to this frosting recipe, it's still super smooth and easy to work with. The flavor balance is perfect, even without the butter.
- Make It Ahead of Time: You can make it up to 1 day prior to using. Follow the instructions in the recipe card below, cover, and then store in the refrigerator. Before using, let it sit at room temperature for about 15-20 minutes, then stir using a fork or whisk until it is a creamy texture again.
- Piping vs. Spreading: This frosting holds its shape really well for both piping and spreading! The cream cheese is whipped until smooth and creamy, which creates a rich texture that spreads or pipes really easily on cakes and cupcakes.
- Add Some Spice: To turn this into a spiced cream cheese frosting, add ½ teaspoon of pumpkin spice!
- Leftovers & Storage: Since it contains cream cheese, if you have any leftovers it needs to be refrigerated. Store in a container with a lid in the fridge for 3-5 days.
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🛒 Ingredients You'll Need
- Powdered Sugar - all you need is 1 cup for this recipe. Not only does it provide the sweetness, but it also helps thicken the frosting. Use a good quality powdered sugar made from cane sugar.
- Cream Cheese - key ingredient to ensuring the frosting is creamy and soft.
- Lemon - helps cut some of the sweetness and adds a fresh lemon flavor from the fresh zest and juice.
👩🏼🍳 See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements!
🥣 Here's How You Make It
Step 1: Using a sharp knife, cut the block of cream cheese into small squares. Set aside.
Step 2: Zest the lemon until you have 1 Tablespoon of zest. Set aside.
Step 3: Add all of the cut cream cheese cubes, lemon juice, zest from the lemon, and the powdered sugar into the bowl of the standing mixer.
Step 4: Turn on the mixer and beat the frosting ingredients on medium speed until fluffy (about 3 minutes).
Once the frosting is mixed and smooth, allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes so it can slightly thicken. Then, go ahead and pipe or spread it onto a cooled cake, cupcakes, or bread loaf for a perfectly creamy finish!
🙋🏼♀️ Recipe FAQs
This recipe will yield about 1 to 1.5 cups of frosting. This is enough to frost about 12 cupcakes or lightly cover a 9x9-inch cake.
If you don't have a citrus zester (this is the best way to get zest), you can use a box grater, a vegetable peeler, or a pairing knife. If you are using a box grater, lightly rub the lemon against the fine holes, rotating as you go. To use a vegetable peeler or knife, carefully peel or slice off thin strips of the yellow skin (avoiding the bitter white pith), then finely chop the strips with a knife on a cutting board.
Don't let it sit out for more than 1-2 hours. Cream cheese, like any other dairy product, is perishable and should be handled accordingly. The high powdered sugar content does help preserve the frosting for a few hours, but in general, it should be stored in the refrigerator.
🎂 Use This Frosting On These Sweet Treats!
If you tried this lemon cream cheese frosting recipe, leave me a comment and a 5 star rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and let me know how it turned out!
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Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- Standing or hand held electric mixer
- sharp knife
- cutting board
- citrus zester
Ingredients
- 8 ounce package of cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
Instructions
- Using a sharp knife, cut the block of cream cheese into small squares. Set aside.
- Zest the lemon until you have 1 Tablespoon of zest. Set aside.
- Add all of the cut cream cheese cubes, zest from the lemon, and 1 cup of powdered sugar into the bowl of the standing mixer. If using a handheld mixer, place the items in a large bowl.
- Using the sharp knife, cut the lemon and squeeze 1 teaspoon of lemon juice into the large bowl with all of the other ingredients.
- Turn on the mixer and beat the frosting ingredients on medium speed until fluffy (about 3 minutes).
- Once the frosting is mixed and smooth, allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes so it can slightly thicken. Then, go ahead and pipe or spread it onto a cooled cake, cupcakes, or bread loaf for a perfectly creamy finish!
Notes
- This recipe makes about 1 to 1.5 cups of frosting. This is enough to frost about 12 cupcakes or lightly cover a 9x9-inch cake.
- If you don't have a citrus zester (this is the best way to get zest), you can use a box grater, a vegetable peeler, or a pairing knife. If you are using a box grater, lightly rub the lemon against the fine holes, rotating as you go. To use a vegetable peeler or knife, carefully peel or slice off thin strips of the yellow skin (avoiding the bitter white pith), then finely chop the strips with a knife on a cutting board.
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